“Every government is run by liars and nothing they say should be believed.” — I.F. Stone

Journalist I. F. Stone, the independent muckraker who died in 1989 at the age of 81, didn’t know about PolitiFact. That’s the Pulitzer Prize-winning project of the Tampa Bay Times that’s designed to help the public find the truth in American politics.

That’s because PolitiFact didn’t come around until later. But it’s likely that Stone would have appreciated this news organization’s efforts to sort fact from fiction, which is essential in a democracy that relies on informed and engaged citizens.

On a regular basis, reporters and researchers from PolitiFact and its partner news organizations examine statements by members of Congress, state legislators, governors, mayors, the president, cabinet secretaries, lobbyists, people who testify before Congress and anyone else who speaks up in political life.

They research their statements and then rate the accuracy on their Truth-O-Meter: True, Mostly True, Half True, Mostly False and False. The most ridiculous falsehoods get its lowest rating, Pants on Fire.

PolitiFact said last week that it will soon announce its Lie of the Year — the most significant falsehood of 2012, as chosen by our editors and reporters.

They’re also inviting PolitiFact readers to vote for the coveted Readers’ Choice award (it’s also accepting write-ins). They can do this on the organization’s website, politifact.com, where more background information is available about each of the “lies.”

Here are PolitiFact’s 10 finalists:

Largest tax increase

“Obamacare is . . . the largest tax increase in the history of the world.”

— Rush Limbaugh on Thursday, June 28, 2012 in comments on his radio show

PolitiFact’s conclusion: “While the health care law certainly is, on the whole, a tax increase, it’s not the largest in American history — and as such — cannot be the largest in the history of the world. (Luckily, there’s enough U.S.-based research that we don’t have to explore the tax increases of the Roman Empire, adjusted for inflation.)” PANTS ON FIRE

‘You didn’t build that’

President Obama was saying success “is the result of government,” not “hard-working people,” when he said, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

— Mitt Romney on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 in an introduction to a web video

PolitiFact’s conclusion: “Romney cherry-picked a quote that made it sound like Obama was dismissive of businesses when in fact he was making a point that success comes from the combination of “individual initiative” and the fact that “we do things together.” FALSE

Abortion

Mitt Romney “backed a bill that outlaws all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest.”

— Barack Obama on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 in a TV ad

Politifact’s conclusion: “The Obama campaign provides virtually nothing to back that up. It has no evidence that Romney explicitly opposed the exception for rape and incest. While he supported the ‘human life amendment,’ there are many versions and the most recent ones allow abortion after rape or incest. And it’s worth noting that in 2011, Romney declared that has said he supports those exceptions. In its effort to appeal to women, the Obama campaign has twisted Romney’s position to a ridiculous degree.” PANTS ON FIRE

Welfare

“Under Obama’s plan (for welfare), you wouldn’t have to work and wouldn’t have to train for a job. They just send you your welfare check.”

— Mitt Romney on Monday, Aug. 6, 2012 in a campaign ad

PolitiFact’s conclusion: “That’s a drastic distortion of the planned changes to Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. By granting waivers to states, the Obama administration is seeking to make welfare-to-work efforts more successful, not end them. What’s more, the waivers would apply to individually evaluated pilot programs — HHS is not proposing a blanket, national change to welfare law.” PANTS ON FIRE

Bain Capital

Mitt Romney and Bain Capital are to blame in a woman’s premature death when they closed the plant where her husband worked.

— Priorities USA Action on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012 in campaign ad

PolitiFact’s conclusion: “There is little to support the ad’s innuendo that Bain is responsible for the early death of the steel worker’s wife. The cancer came several years after he lost his job and her lack of coverage was not due solely to her husband losing his health insurance.” FALSE

Apology

Barack Obama began his presidency “with an apology tour.”

— Mitt Romney on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012 in remarks at the Republican National Convention in Tampa

PolitiFact’s conclusion: “A review of Obama’s foreign travels and remarks during his early presidency showed no evidence to support such a blunt and disparaging claim. (In later years, we found two formal apologies, but they were not at the start of his presidency and not part of a tour.) While Obama’s speeches contained some criticisms of past U.S. actions, he typically combined those passages with praise for the United States and its ideals.” PANTS ON FIRE

‘Likes to fire people’

When it comes to jobless workers, “Mitt Romney says he likes to fire people.”

— Jack Markell on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012 in a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.

PolitiFact’s conclusion: “Romney never said anything about liking to fire people when it came to laid-off workers. Markell talked about helping laid-off workers find jobs, then said, ‘What do you think Mitt Romney would have done if that call came in? Well, Mitt Romney already told us what he would do. Mitt Romney says he likes to fire people.’ He’s cherry-picking Romney’s words and putting them in an entirely different context. What Romney actually said was, “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me,” and he was talking specifically about switching health insurance companies if a provider isn’t giving good service.” FALSE

Deficit blame

“Over the last four years, the deficit has gone up, but 90 percent of that is as a consequence of” President George W. Bush’s policies and the recession.

PolitiFact’s conclusion: “Obama misstated his own documentation by using four years rather than the 10 that were included in the analysis. At a minimum, that makes him responsible for at least 17 percent. But more importantly, he engages in significant cherry-picking by assigning pricey programs to Bush’s column while ignoring the fact that he supported, or supports, many of them.” FALSE

Arizona law

Mitt Romney “called the Arizona law a model for the nation.”

— Barack Obama on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012 in the second presidential debate

PolitiFact’s conclusion: “That statement mischaracterizes Romney’s salute to Arizona’s mandate that employers electronically verify the legal status of employees, which was passed in 2007 and was not included in S.B. 1070.” FALSE

Jeeps in China

Barack Obama “sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China” at the cost of American jobs.

— Mitt Romney on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 in a television ad

PolitiFact’s conclusion: “The ad miscasts the government’s role in Fiat’s acquisition of Chrysler, and it misrepresents the outcome. Chrysler’s owners had been trying to sell to Italy-based Fiat before Obama took office. The ad ignores the return of American jobs to Chrysler Jeep plants in the United States, and it presents the manufacture of Jeeps in China as a threat, rather than an opportunity to sell cars made in China to Chinese consumers.” PANTS ON FIRE

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Is it journalism or thought provoking commentary to simply highlight the results of a third party fact checker? Why is it that every story or commentary these days simply regurgitates other stories or sources. Does anyone in the news media do their own research anymore?

I don't need Politifact, or anyone else to tell me what is and is not a lie. I research for myself and form my own opinion, people that rely on others to tell fact from fiction are just intellectually lazy.